Legendary South African trumpet player and activist Hugh Masekela has passed away, after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer. Masekela’s family states, “[Our] hearts beat with profound loss. Hugh’s global and activist contribution to and participation in the areas of music, theatre, and the arts in general is contained in the minds and memory of millions across 6 continents …”

Masekela topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1966 with the instrumental hit “Grazing In The Grass,” while in the mid 70s he collaborated with Herb Alpert on the landmark Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela and Main Event Live albums on A&M.

The A&M Corner family sends out condolences to Masekela’s family, friends and fans around the globe.

HDTracks is currently running a sale on all Herb Alpert titles until October 6, 2016. Titles are currently listed for $13.98 each. This is for all Herb Alpert titles on the Herb Alpert Presents label. (Note that it does not include Lani Hall’s four high-res album reissues.)

Pick these up soon! All of the reissues are mastered by Bernie Grundman. Well worth getting, in our opinion!

The long awaited release of a good portion of the Herb Alpert back catalog on CD has arrived. Ordering is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers today, as well as at retail stores. Want to see which titles are in this reissue batch? Visit our guide here, listing all of the new releases.

We have just posted our buying guide for the remastered Herb Alpert recordings. September 9 will see the reissue of 22 titles from Alpert’s back catalog on CD; five popular titles are also being released on 180g vinyl, mastered by the great Bernie Grundman.

While these are available as a preorder, we suggest ordering physical copies now, while supplies are available. We need not remind collectors about “the ones that got away!”

Note that all of these titles are currently available as downloads from Amazon, iTunes, Tidal (in lossless CD quality), Acoustic Sounds and HDTracks, the latter two offering the highest resolution files available. You can also find four of Lani Hall’s albums at these download sites as well.

Visit our guide here, and be prepared to relive the great music of Herb Alpert in newly remastered sound!

Herb Alpert’s new EP, Human Nature, is a collection of electronic dance-oriented tunes, being released on September 30, 2016. The track listing includes the title track (Michael Jackson’s hit), three by Burt Bacharach, and a handful of others. You can sample the track “Doodles” at Soundcloud.